Green Gaming: Viney-Vibes

Whenever we think about what differentiates us from other animal species, it is not uncommon to view reason as the essential aspect that constitutes us in what we are. As manifestations of this constitution, it is often invoked the marvelous achievements of both science and technology. Yet, we constantly tend to overlook one important element that has played a crucial role all along throughout these productions: imagination. I would say that, in fact, it is this aspect that most fundamentally sets us apart from other beings. It is thanks to the imagination that we can mentally devise scenarios different than the situation where we currently are that we can find refreshing solutions to all the problems that living in the world unavoidably poses to us.

It is then this concept — imagination — that we will use as our starting point to discuss green gaming.

What is imagination?

This is certainly not the place to offer a thorough analysis of the concept of imagination; however, it is convenient, as Socrates would say, to always start defining the terms that we will use in a discussion. With this in mind, I will suggest using the definition provided in the virtual encyclopedia Wikipedia, since it seems to conveniently encompass the essential aspect of the concept at issue:

Imagination is the ability to produce and simulate novel objects, sensations, and ideas in the mind without any immediate input of the senses.

In other words, imagination can be defined as the capacity to generate mental objects that are not immediately represented to us through our senses. In this regard, imagination can be considered as a source of new ideas. And since generating such kind of ideas is crucial for solving problems, the fostering of imagination is, without any doubt, an educational must. What else could be the goal of education except providing the necessary tools to efficiently address and solve real problems?

Having cleared out this concept sufficiently for our purposes, let us now address the question regarding how this capacity — imagination — could be related to the topic of our title, green gaming?

To answer this question, it is necessary to talk about fiction.

What is fiction?

Once again, due to its intelligibility, we resort to a definition provided by Wikipedia:

Fiction generally is a narrative form, in any medium, consisting of people, events, or places that are imaginary— in other words, not based strictly on history or fact.

According to this definition, fiction is first and foremost a narrative which does not, strictly speaking, correspond to what we may consider reality. In this regard, taking into account the previous definition of imagination, it must certainly be asserted that fiction is the product of the works of imagination. When fiction is created, we are mostly concerned with the beauty and narrative coherence of our mental object than with what reality might be. Yet, this feature of fiction does not cancel its educational aspect, since it is a product of imagination, and, as has been previously said, this latter is inherently educational.

How can fiction be educational?

Based on the argumentation previously given, it seems logical to deduce that fiction is in fact educational. However, this argumentative proof might somehow fall short, if we do not provide a better clarification about how the educational aspect of fiction is concretely speaking manifested. For this matter, it is convenient to remember that in the 5th century BC Aristotle had already recognized the educational value of fiction through his characterization of tragedy. Through the plots of fictional narratives, we can take certain distance from behavioral or situational objects, so that we can reflect, so to say, more objectively on them. In this regard, we can gain some knowledge through the participation in fictional narratives. That is the reason why, for instance, while reading a fictional book or watching a good movie we can potentially obtain some self-knowledge through the reflection on characters or events that occur within those. Once again, it turns out to be clear that it is through the works of imagination — both the process and the product of it — that we can actively learn how to deal with different situations.

That said, how does all this so far explained relate to green gaming?

As it is reasonable to do, we must first of all address the question regarding the concept of gaming, since green gaming would a subcategory of the other.

How are we to understand gaming within this context?

Gaming could be defined as the activity in which a user actively interacts with the narrative provided by a videogame. Such narratives are fictional objects in a similar fashion as the narratives provided by common literature. That is, as E. Aaserth conveniently asserts regarding videogames, these latter can certainly be considered as a new type of literature, since they also offer fictional objects in the form of narratives. The main difference between common literature and the one provided by videogames is that the latter requires non-trivial additional actions in order to be conveniently grasped. For this reason, this novel type of narrative is called ergodic literature, making etymological reference to the additional work required for interacting with it.

So, if videogames are literature, and this latter is a product of fiction, and, at the same time, it has been admitted that fiction is inherently educational due to the source where it comes from — namely, imagination -, videogames turn out to be also, at least potentially, educational.

If the previous statement is accepted, it is clear that whatever type of gaming is educational too. So, by extension, the same would be applied to green gaming.

What is green gaming?

This term can succinctly be defined as the attempt of the game industry for both reducing its carbon emissions and collaborating with projects that look to preserve the environment. This means that green gaming ranges from the improvement of physical devices that might function more efficiently in terms of energy to the fostering of environmental awareness through educational aspects implemented in games. In some cases, some important members within the game industry have committed to shifting from console-based gaming to cloud gaming. In doing this, they expect to decrease the negative impact produced by both the production of consoles and usage of these. However, there are studies that show that cloud gaming could in fact even worsen the current footprint caused by the industry. For this reason, some people seem to suggest that green gaming could end up being just some sort of wishful thinking. And this could even apply to games that look to educate players about climate change, for if such games are successful and their consumption is widespread, we would the paradox that that games that presumably create more environmental awareness are at the same creating more pollution and thereby negatively affecting the environment.

So, at this point, we could certainly ask, could there be any game that could authentically help in the fight against climate change?

To answer this question, it would be convenient to establish some premises that are commonly accepted as true:

Technology does not inherently have any axiological value, except when related to what we may call the human dimension. In other words, every technological object acquires either a positive or negative value in certain respects depending on the way in which it is concretized within the human dimension. So, for instance, a flying technological object could be used for transporting goods for people in need after a natural catastrophe, but, at the same time, this same technological object could also be used for launching missiles against a civilian population. In this regard, since videogames are technological objects, it must be asserted that they are inherently neither positive nor negative but acquire their value in respect to how they are used within the human domain.

So, could there be developed some sustainable format for green gaming?

Based on the previous premises, I believe such object is possible. It would need to face, however, many great challenges, such as the ones previous explained. I imagine, for instance, some videogames that would be specifically designed for educational purposes within systems of institutionalized education. Such games could aim at developing certain critical skills regarding the interaction between human beings and nature. Since it is a fact that new generations feel more attracted to videogames, these objects could be used for drawing their attention to more serious matters. In a way, I think we might be moving already towards that direction.

At this point, it is time to go back to the question regarding the connection between imagination, fiction, and green gaming.

Let us recall it was said that imagination is the skill which enables us to device hypothetical situation through which we can acquire more perspectives regarding the problems we are facing at the moment. For this reason, it was claimed that the imagination is a source of new ideas, and, in this regard, this skill was deemed as inherently educational. At the same time, it was asserted that fiction is a product of imagination and that as such it inherits the educational aspect of the latter. And since ergodic literature is a product of fiction, and videogames are a kind of this literature –, videogames are also educational, and, consequently, green gaming too.

Based on all the previous considerations, it is reasonable to claim that green gaming seems at least conceivable from an educational perspective. So, what is Viney Vibes and how could it be interpreted within the previous explanatory context?

VINEY VIBES

Viney Vibes is an indie game that is emerging as the result of three months of hard work during an extraordinary video game bootcamp lead by our energetic and inspiring Wizard of Joy, Willem Delventhal. Without his support and guidance, we would not have been able to achieve the humble results we have so far obtained. He assembled our team with such an insightful eye that we have been able to enrich our work with all the different perspectives from the members of our team. We all have different career backgrounds and yet this has not been an impediment at all for generating a working flow that enables to get things done fast and, at the same time, have fun!

So what does Viney Vibes consist in?

The game has been designed with the goal of being subordinated to the intersection between puzzle and educational games. That is, we do not only expect you to have fun, but also to somehow learn something. We strongly believe as a team that gaming culture should not be understood as being disassociated from education. As has been previously explained, through playing videogames it is also possible to reflect about complex matters and even gain self-knowledge. A player is sort of a reader, but his literature is the one so-called ergodic.

Ok, so now let us talk about the game in itself.

Once in the game, the player will face the challenge of growing a vine as tall as it can be. In order to succeed in the game, it is necessary to strategically posit differently shaped pieces of lattice where the vine grows. On can fail in the process by either running out of pieces of lattice or being unable to posit one of these because of obstacles.

If you want to have a direct experience of the game, you can look it up in the App Store or the Google Play.

We expect Viney Vibes can somehow inspire people in respect to the beauty of growing vines. During the lockdown, while staying at homes, it is certainly easier to forget about nature. For this reason, it is always good to somewhat remind people about the green aspects of our world. Let us hope to continually bridging the gap between technology and nature. Viney Vibes will at least keep moving into that direction.